


Strolling In Like a Storm

by ishipallthings



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Cuddle Pollen, Falling In Love, Friends to Lovers, Getting to Know Each Other, Hurt Tony, Hurt/Comfort, Love Confessions, M/M, Minor Pepper Potts/Natasha Romanov, Mutual Pining, POV Alternating, Past Tony Stark/Tiberius Stone, Pining, Post-Avengers (2012), Protective Steve, Soul Bond, Soulmate AU where you can sense what your soulmate is feeling, Soulmates, Team Bonding, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-02
Updated: 2020-06-02
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:20:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24509038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ishipallthings/pseuds/ishipallthings
Summary: The last thing Steve Rogers expects is to find his soulmate in the middle of a screaming match while trying to prevent an alien invasion. Tony Stark’s not exactly thrilled about it either. At first.As it turns out, falling in love is even more complicated when you fall for your soulmate.
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 55
Kudos: 839
Collections: Captain America/Iron Man Reverse Bang 2020





	Strolling In Like a Storm

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MusicalLuna](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MusicalLuna/gifts).
  * Inspired by [2020 Cap Iron Man Reverse Big Bang Art](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24509197) by [MusicalLuna](https://archiveofourown.org/users/MusicalLuna/pseuds/MusicalLuna). 



> This is my entry for Cap-IM Reverse Bang Team Empire :) Yes, I’m back with another post-Avengers soulmate AU, I love my tropes. 
> 
> All my thanks to Luna, who has been an absolutely fantastic partner, please check out their lovely art and give them some love <3 The art is also embedded in the fic. 
> 
> Big thanks to Lou, my other partner on Team Empire (their awesome fic is here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24506446)
> 
> I couldn’t have done this without my magnificent betas, erde, Jaz, and Nadine, and everyone who has supported and encouraged me over the past few weeks.
> 
> I was really excited to explore the idea of what happens when you fall for your soulmate after being friends first in this fic, I hope you all enjoy it! 
> 
> TW for implied past emotional abuse (Tony tells Steve about his past relationship with Tiberius Stone). I wasn't sure how to tag this but if anyone wants me to add a tag, please just let me know in the comments and I'll do that right away.
> 
> For the very first scene, assume that Steve and Tony’s first skin-on-skin contact is when Steve grabs Tony’s wrist.

* * *

The funny thing is, it happens entirely by accident.

“I could get there fastest.” 

Stark turns away with these words, and the wave of frustration in Steve’s chest swells higher, threatening to swamp his thoughts. As if Stark doesn’t know that now is the worst time to be pulling the one-man hero card.

“You’re not going alone,” Steve tells him, but Stark isn’t listening. 

Steve moves quickly into Stark’s space, putting out a hand to stop him. His eyes meet Stark’s dark, furious gaze for a split second before his fingers brush the inside of Stark’s upper wrist. 

One small touch, and suddenly all Steve registers is the feeling of fire, the too-hot burn spreading up his fingers, which are still gripping Stark’s wrist. The heat travels lightning-fast up Steve’s arm, too hot and too much and this feels like nothing he’s ever experienced before, not even the serum- 

After a few impossibly long moments, Steve’s eyes lock on Stark’s wide-eyed gaze again. The shock on his face is easily visible, but it’s more than that. Steve can _sense_ Stark’s surprise and disbelief, swooping and sharp and so very loud, almost loud enough to drown out Steve’s own panic. It’s right there in his head, Stark’s right there in his head, he’s - 

Stark - _Tony_ is his soulmate. 

Even as Steve registers the thought in his head, there is a spike of something at the forefront of his mind that feels a lot like fear, and when he looks up, Tony has pulled away from his grasp at long last, the fingers of his left hand hovering over his wrist where Steve touched him, almost but not quite touching.

Steve opens his mouth to say something, anything. He has no idea what words are about to come out of his mouth. Then the ringing silence in his ears is broken by a soft exclamation from Dr. Banner, and in a booming flash, Steve finds himself knocked to the ground along with everyone else.

By the time Steve’s caught his breath, Tony is up and looking back at him through the foggy haze. There’s no more time for hesitation.

“Put on the suit.” Steve’s anger has dissolved in an instant, leaving behind the need to focus on the mission. He shoves away the part of him that is still reeling over the shock of the bond, for later.

“Yeah.” Tony agrees instantly, and Steve can feel his mirrored resolve at the other end of their connection.

Steve reaches for Tony to help him get to his feet, ignoring his marked protest. There’s an uncomfortable tingling underneath Tony’s reluctance and his sharp focus that registers as pain, even if Steve isn’t actually feeling the pain himself. They need to get out of here as fast as they can to deal with the explosion.

Fury tells Tony to get outside and deal with Engine Three and Steve knows without saying anything that they’ll be sticking together for this. 

“Engine Three, I’ll meet you there.” At least they’re on the same page about this, if not everything else. Steve nods as Tony turns in the other direction and then he’s on the move again, making his way to Engine Three. The connection feels thinner, stretched out over a wider range, but he can still feel Tony even at a distance, the steadiness of his focus beating out a rhythm at the back of Steve’s mind. 

* * *

They work well together at first, more or less in sync as Tony talks Steve through inspecting the relays. It’s still disorienting being able to feel someone else’s emotions in his head, especially in closer quarters, but it also allows Steve to catch on quickly to Tony’s instructions, and he’ll take all the help he can get with everything at this point. 

After all, they’re apparently fighting off an alien invasion, of all things. 

Then Steve slips and falls while trying to get a clear shot at an attacking agent, and things go downhill from there. 

He’s grasping at the wires in an effort to pull himself back up, and there’s a spike of urgency in his gut that Steve knows is from Tony, but he’s not there yet. 

A growing sense of panic rolls over Steve, both his own and Tony’s, until he pulls himself up and hits the lever. The next thing he knows, Tony is streaming past, a blur of red and gold in armor. He tackles the other guy who had been aiming for Steve before collapsing to the side. The feeling of relief from both sides of the bond is both overwhelming and comforting in the moment.

* * *

“He was an idiot.” 

It’s hard to read Tony’s expression in the shadows as he tries to brush off Steve’s apology with a scoff. But Steve feels the weight of Tony’s regret in his mind, along with the tight thread of anger that burns underneath it, hot and pulsing between them. It’s as if Steve can hear Tony’s voice in his head now, _why, why, shouldn’t have, idiot, shouldn’t have been him._ It’s different from the regret that Steve feels, tinged with more sadness than anger, but it’s the same too. It’s startling to recognize the disconnect between Tony’s attempt at a dismissal on the surface and what he truly feels. Steve thinks back to sitting in a small, badly lit room, flipping through the file on Tony that SHIELD had given him, watching the footage from Tony’s last drunken birthday party and writing him off as a lost cause before they had even met. He wonders what it would have been like to be bonded to Tony at his worst moments, if everything in his head is always so different from what he shows on the surface. 

When Steve looks up again, Tony is staring back at him, wariness clear on his face. Steve realizes that Tony must have sensed the abrupt shift in his emotions. Steve’s been so busy trying to deal with the onslaught of another person’s feelings inside his head that it was easy to forget that this is a two-way street - Tony knows what Steve’s feeling too. 

Steve lets out a deep breath. They’re here now, alone together, and he still has no idea what to say. It seems like Tony’s also at a loss of words, and it’s a long moment before either one of them breaks the silence.

“Cap, let’s not do this now.”

Tony’s voice is steady and his face gives nothing away, but Steve detects a small surge of hesitation from his side that is quickly clamped down on.

“Sure, Tony. The mission comes first.” Steve can’t deny the flicker of relief he feels in response to Tony’s words, though he’s not sure what Tony might make of it. Something twists in Tony’s expression before disappearing too fast for Steve to read, even in his head. 

“Right,” he says, nodding. “So, about Loki…”

* * *

“Stark, we got him,” Steve says into his comm, and he feels a returning spark of satisfaction from Tony at another piece of the plan falling into place.

“Banner?” Tony confirms, but they both know it’s not a question that needs asking. “Tell him to suit up, I’m bringing the party to you.”

Once Tony’s in sight, Natasha responds with a sardonic, “I don’t see how that’s a party,” and Steve feels something like suppressed laughter from Tony’s end of the bond.

* * *

Tony tells Steve that they’ve got a nuke coming in, and even as he immediately senses Tony’s determination, it takes Steve a few moments to realize exactly what it means. 

“I know just where to put it,” Tony’s voice continues in Steve’s ear, soft and terse, and for a moment it feels like they’re the only two people in the world, Steve with his feet on the ground looking up at the sky, at Tony in his armor, hurtling at ever-faster speeds towards the wormhole that will swallow him whole.

Tony’s emotions taste familiar at the back of Steve’s mouth, desperation tangled up with weary resignation, the sense of _I have to do this because no one else can_ and it almost feels like he’s back in the pilot seat on the Valkyrie, watching the ice move closer and closer, radio static crackling in the background. But it’s not Peggy’s voice that he hears now, it’s Tony’s voice; his _soulmate’s_ voice. If Tony doesn’t make it out of the wormhole, Steve might never hear his voice again. 

The panic he feels at this nearly sends Steve staggering to his knees, _I can’t be alone again, not after Bucky and Peggy_ and his mouth feels numb when he tries to speak. “Stark, Tony, you know—” 

“It’s a one-way trip, Cap, yeah,” Tony finishes for Steve. He’s almost at the edge of the wormhole now, leaving a red-gold trail in his wake. Tony’s voice comes through clearly on the comms despite the distance between them, but the honed edges of his despair feel softer and farther away now, like looking at an image from underwater. 

Then Steve feels his mind being blanketed by a burst of something, _tired-grief-resolve-farewell_ , before Tony’s voice comes over the comms again, this time muffled by loud static. 

“I’m sorry, Cap.” 

It’s the last thing Steve hears before Tony disappears into space.

* * *

The emptiness that forms in Steve’s head after Tony vanishes from sight throbs like an open wound, an ache so loud it almost drowns out everything else in Steve’s head and in the background. There’s no room for shock or disbelief, just an abyss of absence where Tony had been only seconds before.

“Cap?” Natasha’s voice seems to be coming from a very long distance over the loud ringing in Steve’s ears. His chest feels tight. Each breath is harder to take, an invisible weight pressing down on his lungs, like how his asthma used to feel. Steve braces his hands on his knees, willing his vision to stay steady even as nausea threatens to overwhelm him. 

_"Cap?"_ Natasha asks again, sounding more insistent this time. She’s asking a question Steve’s not willing to answer. 

“Close it, Agent Romanoff,” Thor finally tells her, voice grave. He sounds entirely unlike the Norse god Steve had exchanged jokes with only minutes earlier. His voice is loud, coming from closer than Steve expects. He glances up to find Thor crouching next to him, one hand hovering over Steve’s shoulder, as if unsure whether or not Steve will accept his offer of support. 

Before Thor can say anything, they’re interrupted by Natasha’s audible whisper of “holy shit” over the comms, and Steve’s heart leaps hopefully in his chest. _Could it be…?_

“He’s not stopping!” Thor shouts, and that’s enough to get Steve looking up, only to see Hulk grab Tony mid-fall to slow down his descent. 

Steve takes off running the second Hulk hits the ground, wrestling for the latch until he manages to get Tony’s helmet off and he’s here, he’s back, but Steve still can’t feel anything from his side of the bond. Tony isn’t breathing, and Steve stares down at the diminished light at the centre of Tony’s chest, feeling hollow. 

Then Hulk lets out a deafening roar before pounding the pavement with his fist, and the light in Tony’s chest flickers back to life, the bond jumpstarting between them at the same time. Finally, Steve feels like he can breathe again.

Tony’s eyes snap open, his shock and awe at making it through bleeding into Steve’s own wonder until Steve’s not sure which feelings are his and which are Tony’s. 

“We won,” he tells Tony, and just for a moment, his heart feels lighter than it has since he first woke up from the ice.

* * *

When Tony gets a text from Cap asking if he could drop by the Tower a few weeks after the battle, he’s definitely surprised. For one thing, he didn’t even know Cap knew how to send texts, and he thought Fury would keep the idea of reforming the team at the Tower under wraps for now. And of course, there’s the soulbond thing, but Tony’s been trying very hard to not think about that whole business ever since it happened, and one little conversation isn't going to stop that from happening. He’s always been good at dancing around the elephant in the room or acting like it doesn’t exist at all, and there’s no reason for that to stop with this. 

No reason at all. 

_sure,_ he texts back after five minutes of staring into space, fighting down the urge to just ignore the message. DUM-E nudges at the wrench in his hand and Tony heaves a sigh. 

Maybe he could get Pepper to arrange a business trip for him to somewhere before Cap gets here. He’s always liked Tokyo. 

He finishes the message with: _after lunch okay with you?_ before hitting send. 

Cap’s reply comes quickly, barely a minute later. 

_That works. Thank you._

The message seems stilted in its formality, and Tony finds himself tapping the fingers of his left hand loosely on the countertop. It’s a nervous tic he’s never entirely gotten rid of.

Most likely Cap’s just here on SHIELD business. The not-knowing doesn’t sit well with Tony though. 

_great, JARVIS will send you down when you get here,_ he finally texts back after another ten minutes. He’s not sure if Cap even knows who JARVIS is, but he’ll deal with it once Cap gets here. 

* * *

Tony’s agitated for the rest of the morning, although he does manage to channel that restlessness into something productive by making progress on repairs for the armor. The distraction works so well that it takes a reminder from JARVIS to jolt him out of his work. 

“Captain Rogers has arrived at the lobby and will be making his way to the workshop shortly, Sir. Might I suggest turning off the music or leaving it a lower decibel?”

 _Shit._ “Turn it off, J,” Tony says, taking up a greasy cloth from the table to wipe at his face. He waves off DUM-E’s enthusiastic attempts to help, realizing he probably looks like a right mess. 

It’s fine. Cap’s seen worse - he’s the first person Tony saw when he woke up from the portal, half-dead and still in shock. The sky blue of his eyes was the first color that Tony had registered after closing his eyes in the darkness, thinking his journey through the wormhole was the end.

Tony’s heart clenches in his chest at the memory of how Cap’s emotions had overwhelmed him in that first moment, a bolt of pure emotion, wonder, fear, joy, and shock all tangled up in one another from Cap’s side- 

Tony grits his teeth before pushing down the unfinished thought. Nope, not gonna go there. 

His train of thought is interrupted by the sound of a knock on the workshop door and JARVIS’ announcement. 

“Captain Rogers is requesting entry to the workshop, Sir.” 

Cap’s face is visible through the clear glass, and Tony stifles a laugh at the look of bemusement on his face at the sound of JARVIS’ voice. He gives a quick wave of assent, and in a few seconds, the door opens and Cap is walking hesitantly into the room. 

He stops more than a few feet away from Tony, close to the door, and Tony breathes an inward sigh of relief at that. At this distance, it’s easy enough to sense Cap’s emotions, but also not too hard to put them aside and focus on his own with some effort. He’s not sure if Cap’s deliberately putting space between them. Clearly, if they’re going to be working together on a team, proximity is going to become more of an issue, but at least for now, this is a relief. 

“Is that, uh—” Cap begins, confusion written clearly across his face, and Tony grins, gesturing towards the ceiling.

”This, Cap, is JARVIS, my personal AI system, or Just Another Very Intelligent System. He helps me run SI business and he’s also shown himself to be occasionally helpful with regards to making sure I don’t set myself on fire in the workshop.”

“A challenging task indeed, Sir,” JARVIS intones, and Tony really doesn’t know where he gets the snark from. Probably Rhodey. 

“Oh.” Cap’s lips part as if he wants to follow up with a question, only for him to clear his throat and nod decisively. “Good to meet you then, JARVIS.” 

“Likewise, Captain Rogers.” 

Cap’s still frowning a little, but the expression eases somewhat when his eyes meet Tony’s. The curiosity and slight bewilderment that Tony had felt earlier from Cap before JARVIS’ introduction morphs into something that, if Tony didn’t know any better, he would call shyness, and it leaves him feeling wary. The idea that Cap is getting this from Tony’s side of the bond rattles him more than Tony wants to admit. 

“So, hi,” Cap says, ducking his head a little before looking back up at Tony.

“Hi to you too, Cap,” Tony says. At this, there’s a sliver of discomfort at the back of his mind that Tony knows isn’t his, but there’s no discernible change of expression on Cap’s face, so Tony soldiers on. 

“What brings you to my neck of the woods? Fury asked you to check in on me for SHIELD or for my progress on the rebuilding plans?”

“What? No, I—” Cap’s unease is wiped away by surprise at Tony’s words. He shakes his head. “No, I haven’t heard from Fury since everything was wrapped up with Loki, actually.”

“Seriously?” Tony asks. “And here I thought he was tired of sending Hill to pester me about renovations for the team and all that.”

Tony’s remark ignites a spark of interest from Cap, and a part of Tony wishes he had just kept his mouth shut about Fury’s idea on rebuilding the team, but Cap leaves it for now. 

“I just got back actually, travelled around a bit on my bike.” Cap shoves his hands in his pockets before looking up again, a ghost of a smile on his face. “Visited the Grand Canyon. Always wanted to do that.”

It’s on the tip of Tony’s tongue to ask if he saw anyone, visited someone, before he remembers _right, seventy years in the ice, almost everyone he knew is gone_ , and yep, Tony’s an idiot. He bites down on his lip, hoping that Cap didn’t get much from his side of things other than maybe a vague sense of panic at the near mistake. God, he has no idea how to deal with this at all. 

“Sure, that sounds cool. Glad you’re back,” Tony offers up after a short pause, not sure of what else to say. He shuffles his feet a little before biting the bullet. “So if Fury didn’t send you, what did you want to talk about?” He really hopes they can avoid the giant pink elephant next to DUM-E for a little bit longer at least. 

“I wanted to apologize,” Cap says after a short pause, and okay, that was definitely not what Tony was expecting to come out of his mouth. 

He’s studying Tony with an intent look in his eyes and rocking back on his heels a little. There’s hesitancy in his face and also from the bond, but Tony guesses it’s more from not knowing how Tony’s gonna react than anything else. 

“I was wrong, for what I said on the helicarrier that day. About you pretending to be a hero. I shouldn’t have said that,” Cap continues. Tony swallows past the lump in his throat. He doesn’t want to figure out exactly what he’s feeling right now, a mess of something with gratitude and disbelief, and he’s definitely wishing Cap can’t feel it too.

“It was the sceptre, Cap. You weren’t the only one lashing out,” Tony replies, his mouth dry. His own words echo in his head, _everything special about you came out of a bottle_ , and shame adds itself to everything else he’s feeling at the moment. 

“Maybe, but it doesn’t change the fact that it was wrong of me to say it. I was wrong, Tony. If you hadn’t done what you did—” Cap’s expression is almost painful in its earnestness, and Tony is nearly bowled over by the force of the sincerity in his words and what he can sense from Cap. 

“I said some things too, and they weren’t true,” Tony replies, deciding not to address the other part of Cap’s apology. Having to relive falling into the portal every night in his nightmares is bad enough without bringing it out here in the open right now. “I’m sorry, Cap.” 

Cap’s face tightens, and something like fear flashes across Tony’s mind for a second before disappearing. Cap clears his throat, looking down at his feet again. “It’s Steve. I mean, if you don’t—”

“Steve,” Tony amends, noticing how Cap’s, no, _Steve’s_ face relaxes minutely at that, and it almost feels like a knot loosening at the other side of the bond. Tony wonders how long it’s been since someone’s called Steve by his name, and not just the title they gave him. 

He catches himself before he lets his thoughts run further away with him, but there’s a guardedness to Steve’s expression that hadn’t been there a moment ago. Tony hasn’t known Steve for long at all, but even without the bond, it’s not hard to tell that he’s not someone who accepts sympathy easily. 

“So how was your trip?” Tony asks, a desperate edge to his voice in an effort to move past whatever they’re both sensing from the bond. Steve’s mouth lifts into a tiny smile at that. 

“It was… it was good, I guess? Different, but I was expecting that, obviously,” Steve replies, his words accompanied by a weight that pushes at the back of Tony’s mind.

“Better than being cooped up at SHIELD, at least?” 

There’s a moment of silence, and Tony’s about to curse at himself for saying the wrong thing again when Steve gives a quick laugh. 

“Yeah, there’s that too.” Rubbing the back of his neck, Steve glances up at Tony. “Speaking of, what did you mean when you asked if Fury sent me to ask you about the team?”

“Fury’s been talking about getting the team back again on a permanent basis,” Tony explains. He figures if Fury brought it up with him, he’s not gonna care if Steve knows. It’s only a matter of time anyway. “And I thought, you know, since the Tower needs rebuilding after everything anyway, we could make it a base of sorts.”

“That’s— that sounds great, Tony. Thank you.” Steve’s surprise is obvious, but Tony also feels the undercurrent of relief underneath it. _He really must be feeling lost if the idea of living with a team of misfits is a relief_ , Tony thinks to himself ruefully. Banner had called them a timebomb, and even though they had been under the influence of the scepter, he also wasn’t very far off the mark. 

“So, does that mean you’re in, then?” Tony asks, even though he can already guess the answer. 

“It’s the best offer I’ve gotten so far,” Steve responds wryly. Tony laughs softly. He’s about to reply when DUM-E suddenly moves away from where he’s supposed to be doing fabrication in the corner of the workshop towards the blender in the sink.

“No, DUM-E, no more smoothies!” Tony yells, waving a hand in DUM-E’s direction. 

When he looks back at Steve, the man is peering behind Tony towards the kitchen area. “That’s DUM-E?”

“Yeah, he’s a helper bot. Or supposed to be, anyway.” Tony runs a hand through his hair before raising his voice in DUM-E’s direction. “One of these days, he’s going to be donated to a community college.”

DUM-E responds to the threat with a loud whir before turning to face Tony and moving towards Steve, letting out a series of long beeps. 

Steve takes all this in stride, which Tony finds a little surprising given his earlier wariness about JARVIS. “Hello, DUM-E,” Steve says, bending down a little. There’s a careful smile on Steve’s face that makes something in Tony’s chest ache. 

“Don’t encourage him, he’s spoiled enough as it is,” Tony tells him. Steve straightens up, huffing a laugh.

A silence settles between them. Tony resists prodding the other end of the bond. Steve’s probably going to bring it up now, and he’s definitely not ready for it. 

It seems like Steve’s thinking the same thing, though. He doesn’t mention the subject they’re both pretending isn’t there. Soon enough, the visit ends after they’ve exchanged a little more small talk and 'see you around's. 

Tony leans back on the workshop bench with a sigh, signalling to JARVIS to start the music up again. And to think he thought he wouldn’t be able to get out of this without discussing the bond. Maybe being on a team as his soulmate wouldn’t be as hard as he had thought, if they’re both in silent agreement to not bring it up. 

Maybe this will actually work. 

* * *

Two months later, and one week into the team all living together in the Tower, and Tony’s optimism is much, much weaker. Steve’s three floors away from the workshop in the communal gym, most likely taking his frustrations out on a punching bag, and Tony can feel the force of his anger as clearly as if Steve was in the same goddamn room as him. 

In retrospect, Tony probably should have taken the chance to leave and calm down when they finished with the debriefing instead of riling Steve up even more with his own retorts, but he's never claimed to have a good temper. Now he’s paying for it with an insistent pounding at the back of his skull, and he can’t even tell how much of the frustration is his or Steve’s. 

Tony’s more than a little grateful when the pounding quiets to an ache more than an hour later, and it’s a huge relief when it’s almost entirely gone a little while after that. Except - Tony lets out a loud curse at a sudden realization, panic spiking in him.

“J, is Cap still in the Tower?” he asks, even though he can already guess the answer. 

JARVIS confirms his suspicions. “Captain Rogers left almost two hours ago, Sir. His bike is no longer in the garage. He did not disclose his intended destination.”

 _Goddamnit._ Tony breathes out a heavy sigh, both hands braced on his workshop table. He really doesn’t want to tell Fury that they accidentally lost Captain America somewhere right after the Avengers’ first proper mission. Fury would definitely place the blame entirely on his shoulders. 

“Call him, J, and keep calling until he picks up.” The last part of Tony’s instructions turns out to be extremely applicable, as Steve doesn’t pick up until almost another two hours later, just when Tony’s thinking about throwing in the towel and putting out a trace on his phone, screw privacy. 

“Hello?” Relief rushes over Tony at the sound of Steve’s voice, even as he pushes back at the heady feeling of anger building at the back of his throat at the same moment.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Okay, so maybe he’s not doing such a great job holding the anger back. It’s been a long couple of hours. “You can’t just disappear like that without telling anyone where you’re going, Rogers.”

There is a long, drawn-out pause. 

“I gave Natasha a heads up before I left,” Steve says, before lapsing back into silence. Tony’s not sure if he’s relieved or disappointed that he can’t read anything from the inflection of Steve’s words. 

_Oh._ Tony feels the back of his neck grow hot with embarrassment, and he fights the urge to bash his head against the workshop table. He had been so caught up with Steve leaving _(running away_ \- from him), that he hadn’t even thought to check in with the others about where Steve might be. He doesn’t even know why he panicked anyway. Steve can very obviously take good care of himself. _Stupid._

“Right. Of course.” Tony draws the words out as long as he can just to prolong the silence. Part of him wishes Steve hadn’t picked up. Then he would have been spared from this embarrassment. 

There’s another pause, then Steve continues in a softer tone. “I needed space, and I thought you would appreciate it too.”

Tony bites back a half-laugh. “I did,” he acknowledges carefully. So far, this is the closest they’ve ever come to addressing the bond ever since it happened. “I guess I just freaked out when you know, I didn’t feel—”

“Oh. I didn’t think of that,” Steve says after a beat, the remaining terseness fading from his voice at Tony’s words. “I should have—”

“It’s fine," They don’t need to talk about this. Tony definitely doesn’t want to, not after the blowout they just had. “It was a good idea, space is good.”

“Thanks for checking on me,” Steve says, and something clenches in Tony’s chest. He’s very glad Steve’s not at the Tower right now. It was so easy to be angry when Steve was telling him off about needing to work with the team and when he just went off and disappeared, but for some reason, that’s gone now.

“Let JARVIS know when you’re back, yeah? Take as much time as you need,” Tony tells him, and then he hangs up before Steve can respond. Only does he let his head hit the tabletop with a thunk, waving off JARVIS’s concern.

This is definitely not going to be easy.

* * *

The flash of disorientation catches Steve off guard as he’s busy dispatching one of AIM’s robots next to the wrecked coffee shop, so much that Clint reaches out to steady him after shooting off another arrow at one of the approaching offenders. 

“You alright there, Cap?” he asks, and Steve opens his mouth to say yes when he realizes that the dizziness wasn’t from him. It’s from Tony.

“Where’s Iron Man?” he barks at Clint, who looks taken aback. Not getting an answer, he speaks over his comms. “Iron Man, location.”

When he’s met with silence, Steve asks loudly over his comms again, trying to keep the panic out of voice. “Has anyone seen Stark?” When he narrows his focus to the bond instead of trying to shield himself from it like he usually does, there’s a distinct haziness to it that Steve doesn’t recognize, and it has him worried. 

“A few of the agents found a way into the Tower and Iron Man said he would deal with them,” Thor responds after he finishes decking one of the robots in the face with Mjolnir. “It’s just AIM goons. I’m sure he’s fine.”

Steve grits his teeth as a sharp spike of pain comes through the bond and he picks his shield up off the ground. “He’s not fine, I’ll go find him. Clint, you’ve got the perimeter.”

Steve doesn’t even hear the rest of Clint’s question, “How do you know—” before he’s sprinting away and into the Tower to get to Tony. _He will be fine. He has to be._

* * *

Steve finds Tony in the middle of the destruction left by the AIM agents in one of the communal areas. His eyes are wide and unfocused, as he lies half-prone of the floor, his breathing labored and loud. Steve’s heart lurches in his chest in relief and worry at the sight, even as he struggles to keep his own steps steady this close to Tony. 

Once he gets to Tony’s side, Steve leans carefully over him, trying to inspect the rest of his body for visible injuries. “Tony’s hurt. Natasha, Clint, whoever’s closest to the Tower right now, get up here.” He grimaces as a sharp spike of pain laces through him when he tries to shift Tony onto his left side. Probably bruised ribs.

“What happened, Tony?” Steve asks. His hand hovers over Tony’s face for a moment, hesitating. He’s avoided physical contact with Tony ever since that day on the helicarrier, not wanting to deepen a bond they’re both not sure of, but now he’s here and Tony’s hurt, and reaching for him feels like something instinctive, second-nature. 

Tony lets a nearly silent whimper of pain, and that makes Steve’s decision for him. In the next moment, his right hand is cupping Tony’s face, while he smoothes Tony’s blood-matted hair away from his forehead, rubbing comforting circles into his skin. 

“It’s okay, Tony, we’ve got you,” Steve says, as Tony leans into his touch, probably without realizing. “I’ve got you,” he adds softly. 

Tony’s eyes are fluttering shut, and Steve shakes him gently with one hand, not wanting him to fall asleep. It’s more than likely that he has a concussion along with whatever else hit him. 

“AIM… had EMP… hit me with… knocked out…” Tony’s words are spoken in an almost unintelligible volume if not for Steve’s supersoldier hearing. Steve’s panic sharpens as Tony lets out another quiet moan, and he’s debating whether or not he should carry Tony out on his own, second-hand dizziness be damned, when Natasha and Clint race inside.

“Shit,” Natasha hisses through her teeth when she sees Tony, half-cradled in Steve’s arms. “The ambulance is ready to go, let’s get him downstairs.” 

Steve reluctantly moves aside for Clint to take Tony when his knees suddenly threaten to give out on him, keeping his eyes fixed on Tony the whole elevator ride down.

* * *

Steve’s pretty sure he’ll have worn a hole in the floor with his pacing soon enough, but he can’t keep still. Natasha is seated in one of the waiting room chairs, watching him with an unreadable expression on her face, and Steve wonders how much he’s giving away right now, how much she can read from him. Bruce is next to her, eyes scanning Tony’s chart with narrowed eyes. 

“I know we sent Clint and Thor to get coffee, but I’m thinking you don’t need the extra caffeine,” Natasha’s voice breaks into Steve’s thoughts.

Steve sighs and sits down heavily in the chair next to Bruce. “I’ll be fine, he’s fine.” 

Bruce makes a noise of agreement. “I’ll feel better once we figure out exactly what they used on him, but it doesn’t seem like the dizziness and pain will end up being long-term, so he’ll just have to let those bruised ribs heal.” Bruce grimaces. “He’s not going to be happy about being benched for the next three weeks though.” 

Steve sighs at this, running his hand through his hair. “No, he won’t be.” He looks up at the sound of high heels hitting the linoleum floor to see Pepper rushing towards them, worry clear on her face. “Nat, I got your message. How is he?” 

Steve gets up, gesturing for Pepper to take his seat. She takes it with a grateful smile, leaning into Natasha’s space with easy familiarity. “They’ve done tests, and he’s resting now. We’re not sure what he was hit with, but the effects aren’t as bad now. The doctors said they’ll let us see him in a couple hours.” 

“Oh, thank god. I couldn’t get through to Rhodey when you first called, but I’ll give him another call soon.” Pepper gives a half-laugh, bracing her hands on her knees. “You’d think I’d be used to him scaring the hell out of me with this kind of thing by now.” 

Steve sends what he hopes is a reassuring smile her way, though he’s not sure how well he succeeds. He doesn’t know Pepper very well, aside from her interactions with Tony and having a few engrossing conversations on art with her when the topic comes up, but he likes her. Sometimes, though, he remembers how Pepper and Tony were together for a while, though they’re just friends now. The thought that if things had gone differently, his soulbond with Tony could have disrupted their relationship, leaves him a little unsettled. 

Not that he and Tony have any idea on how to deal with the bond at all, given that they haven’t so much as discussed it since it happened. Steve thinks of how he opened up the bond even more with that first touch, trying to send Tony comfort through their connection.

He hopes Tony won’t blame him for it.

* * *

When the doctors finally let visitors in to see Tony, the rest of the team and Pepper all insist that Steve take the first visit, despite his best efforts to convince Pepper otherwise. 

The first sight of Tony awake and alert, meeting Steve’s eyes with a clear gaze, loosens the tight knot of dread in Steve’s stomach. For the first time in hours, the relief he’s feeling isn’t clouded by anxiety. Feeling Tony’s improvement through the bond has helped a great deal, but Steve hadn’t realized just how much he needed to see for himself that Tony’s going to be alright for him to believe it. 

Steve takes a deep breath, soaking in Tony’s reassurance from his side of the bond. 

“I’m alright, Steve,” Tony says gently, a soft look in his eyes, and for a moment, Steve wishes he could move a little closer, burrow a little more into the feeling of warmth Tony is sending his way. “Thanks to you,” Tony adds a note of fond teasing in his voice that leaves Steve feeling lighter.

“I’m glad,” Steve says, knowing that Tony can feel how much he means it, how relieved he is that they got to Tony in time, that he’s going to be fine. The smile Tony returns to him is small but real, and the sight of it pushes Steve to finish all that he wants to say. 

“I know we haven’t—haven’t really talked about what happened. And I’m not sure about it either,” he adds, looking down at his feet to avoid Tony’s wide-eyed look for a moment, “but I don’t think it’s doing us any favors to run from this, especially now that we’re a team.”

Steve huffs a sigh, frustration and anxiety clamoring for space in his chest. “I guess what I’m trying to say is I don’t want to be avoiding this all the time, or avoiding you when I can. I’m happy for us to put boundaries in place and keep the physical contact to a minimum. It’s just... I’d like a chance to be friends. That’s all.”

When Steve finally gathers enough courage to look up at Tony again, he’s met with a slow bloom of something warm and light from their connection, understanding, care, and hope all in one. 

“Friends, huh?” Tony asks. When he grins, Steve finds himself smiling in return. “I’d like that. It seems I’m stuck with you, after all.”

“Better get used to it, then,” Steve tells him, and he means it.

* * *

When Tony finds Steve wide awake at three in the morning, he knows without asking exactly what’s keeping him up tonight. 

He had felt the shadow of it at the back of his mind while in the workshop, the split second of Steve’s uncertainty in between sleeping and waking. Dread had clung to Steve’s side of the bond like a weight, settling into Tony’s chest that wasn’t the arc reactor. The feeling had eased up after a while, but Tony’s mind had still wandered in distraction, and JARVIS’ quiet suggestion of seeking out company in one of the communal areas had relieved him more than he cared to admit. 

Steve’s lounging on one of the wide couches, the room dark except for a nearby lamp and the muted light from the ceiling-to-floor television screen in front of him, which Tony realizes is still playing an episode from the Batman animated series. Then he spies Clint’s figure lying across one of the other couches, a blanket thrown over him, and fights to keep a fond grin from crossing his face. It hadn’t taken very long for every single member of the team to learn that the one thing that always helped Clint with his insomnia was watching old cartoons, and Tony’s made it through more than a few episodes with him over the past few months. 

A smile crosses Steve’s face when he looks up and sees Tony standing in the doorway. Even with the serum and the relaxed way he’s holding his body, Tony can read exhaustion from the lines of his face, and a thin undercurrent of fatigue tugs at the back of his mind in confirmation. 

_It’s usually the ice,_ Steve had confessed to him one night, too tired to keep the truth of it at bay with forced nonchalance, never mind the fact that Tony can feel all of it through the bond if he concentrates hard enough. _Most nights, I’m trapped and I can’t get out, or someone else is trapped in my place and I can’t save them._

 _Some nights it’s easier not to go to sleep at all, really,_ Steve had said, a bitter twist to his mouth. Tony’s throat had closed up at the memory of how he had felt the same after Afghanistan of avoiding sleep for days on end if he could help it. Exhaustion was better than having to relive Yinsen’s death over and over again. 

_There was someone I couldn’t save too,_ he tells Steve in a stilted voice two nights after this, not knowing what else to offer up or if it would make any difference at all. Steve hadn’t said anything in reply, but Tony had felt a steady warmth building up through the bond, almost like a comforting hand on his shoulder, and the remembrance of it had chased away his nightmares for the rest of the week. 

Nowadays, it’s mostly the wormhole, darkness pressing down all around him, watching the explosion of the light fade away as he closes his eyes and the light of the explosion fades away until he opens his eyes again to the light of his room or the workshop. He knows Steve probably feels it too on those nights, the claustrophobia, the _please no, not again_. Some days it’s almost a comfort. Other days, it’s not.

“Doing some late-night reading?” Tony asks, breaking the silence as he settles next to Steve on the couch. 

The sharp edges of Steve’s restlessness are harder to ignore at close proximity, but Tony is able to push them away with a little effort, leaving a clearer boundary between his feelings and what he feels from Steve. It had been a hard adjustment at first, dealing with each other’s moods without going for avoidance at the first opportunity, but in return, Tony gets Steve’s contentment, his dry humor, his hilarious grumpiness at morning briefings - he has Steve’s _friendship_ now, and it helps Tony feels that much less alone. 

“Yeah, couldn’t sleep.” Steve leans closer to Tony, flipping to the front of the book to give him a glimpse at the cover. In the light of the reading lamp next to him, Tony makes out the title _The Complete Fairy Tales_ by George MacDonald in gold lettering. 

The copy is yellowed and obviously well-thumbed, probably something Steve bought in a second-hand bookstore if Tony had to guess. He seems to be quite fond of those. 

“Ma used to take on extra shifts at the library two streets down in the winter sometimes. I was always sick and we needed the money,” Steve says quietly, absentmindedly stroking the spine of the book as he speaks. A cool wistfulness surges through their bond, and Tony keeps his eyes fixed on Steve’s face.

“When she had some extra time at the end of her shift, she’d check out some books for me to read. She wanted to cheer me up and it helped with the boredom those times I had to stay in bed for weeks on end.” 

“Who were your favorites?” Tony asks, stretching out a hand to the back of the couch, not quite touching Steve.

“I loved Jules Verne when I was younger, read a lot of Agatha Christie too. Those were fun, and I ended up getting into poetry a bit when I got older, before the war started.” Steve glances down at the book open in his lap.

“Ma loved fairy tales, so she was thrilled when she found a copy of MacDonald’s stories in the library a couple years after I was born. She used to read them to me sometimes before bed,” he continues, letting out a soft sigh. “It’s not the same now, obviously, but I can still remember the sound of her voice reading to me. It helps when I miss her, and when I wake up and I want to forget—” Steve breaks off, and Tony nods. He doesn’t need to hear the rest of the sentence to know it ends.

“That’s good, that it helps.” An old memory nudges at Tony’s mind then, of his mother leaning over his bed to give him a good night kiss, the floral scent of her perfume lingering in the air long after she left for another social function on her calendar. 

“My mom used to sing to me sometimes. Not often, but she had a beautiful voice.” Tony rubs nervously at his knee, and he doesn’t really mean to continue, but the words are out before he can stop himself. “She offered to teach me to play the piano before I was sent off to boarding school, but I only learned after she passed.”

When Tony looks up, Steve’s studying him with a steady, inscrutable expression. The silence lasts so long that Tony decides it’s probably best if he changes the subject, when Steve breaks the quiet between them.

“I’d like to hear you play sometime, if you'd let me.” There’s a warm excitement in Steve’s voice that leaves Tony feeling almost breathless. He can’t remember the last time he played for someone. 

“If I say yes, will you do something for me?” Tony asks, straining to cover up the tumult building up inside him at Steve’s request with a teasing edge to his voice. 

He knows Steve can see past it, but he’s learned over the years that some masks are more for yourself than others.

“Sure, Tony.” 

“Read me something,” Tony prompts, propping his chin up with one hand as he gestures to Steve’s book. 

There’s a pause, and Tony half-expects Steve to refuse in the next moment. But then, with a quick clearing of his throat, Steve starts:

“Once upon a time, so long ago that I have quite forgotten the date, there lived a king and queen who had no children. And the king said to himself, ‘All the queens of my acquaintance have children, some three, some seven, and some as many as twelve…’”

Tony falls asleep to the sound of Steve’s voice telling him of floating princesses and evil curses and true love, and it’s the best sleep he has in weeks.

* * *

Tony’s not sure what to expect when Steve asks if he wants to come along for one of Steve’s day trips to Brooklyn, but he says yes to Steve’s offer anyway. 

Steve likes to head over to Brooklyn at least once a month, and Tony’s caught glimpses of the pages in his sketchbooks that Steve has slowly filled over a succession of trips. Steve always comes back from his trips feeling a little steadier, if also quieter for a while. 

“I have to admit, the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens wouldn’t have been my first choice if you had asked me to guess where we would be going today,” Tony tells Steve when they’re seated on one of the parkside benches, squinting down at the half-crumpled map in his hand. 

Steve laughs, his hand moving assuredly over the open page in the sketchbook on his lap. Steve rarely uses color in his sketches, but he seems to be making an exception today. 

“It’s been here since before I was even born, but I was allergic to so many different kinds of pollen. This place was more of a hazard than anything else. Then after the serum,” Steve pauses, shrugging. “You know, the war.” 

“It’s nice to know some things are still here after all this time,” he admits softly, and Tony knows Steve’s not just talking about gardens now. Tony sends a wave of understanding through the bond to Steve, hoping Steve knows what he’s trying to say. _You’re not alone anymore._

After a moment, Steve meets his gaze with a silent nod. Tony accepts the unsaid thanks with a small smile, his chest growing warm. 

They spend the morning visiting different areas of the park, staying longest at the Japanese Hill and Pond Garden, long enough for Steve to fill up more than one page with sketch after sketch. Tony agrees that the view is definitely worth the trip. 

Steve picks the place for lunch, taking Tony to a quiet, hole-in-wall family-run Vietnamese place not too far from the Gardens, where the cook knows Steve likes extra beef ribs with his pho and doesn’t blink at the amount of food they end up ordering. Their Banh Tieu is the best Tony has ever tasted. 

“It was hard at first,” Steve tells Tony as they make their way out of the restaurant. “It seemed like everywhere I looked, nothing was the same, and it was like I was the one thing that didn’t belong in the picture.” Tony’s heart gives a painful squeeze in his chest. 

“And then a week or so after I came back from my cross-country trip, I stumbled across an old clock shop on the corner of 5th Avenue, and it turned out to be the same clock shop I used to live across the street from.” Steve chuckles. “Apparently Mr. Fairchild told his grandson that he knew Captain America back when he was just a scrawny little thing, but never believed him until I showed up that day.”

“It got easier after a while - sometimes, when I’m walking down some of these streets, I still see what used to be there instead of the new buildings, but only for a moment. I’ve met some great people here too.”

“Seems like you’re putting down roots then, hmm?” Tony replies after a moment, feeling strangely hopeful as he waits for Steve’s answer.

“Yeah, seems that way.” Steve hesitates before briefly nudging Tony’s shoulder with his. Tony feels the warmth of the contact all the way down to his toes, even through the layers of clothes they’re wearing. “And the company’s not half bad, sometimes.”

“You’re such a flatterer, Rogers.”

“It’s one of my many talents.”

* * *

Steve grins at DUM-E and stretches out his hand to give the bot an encouraging pat on the head. “Thanks for agreeing to be my model, DUM-E.” 

He hears a snort from Tony’s end of the workshop and bites down on a grin, shaking his head at DUM-E, who whirs inquisitively. 

“Ignore him, DUM-E, he’s just jealous that you haven’t got any bad angles,” Steve tells him, struggling to keep a straight face. A burst of amusement from Tony’s end of the bond echoes Steve’s struggle to keep from laughing. 

Tony flops down on the couch next to Steve with a thump. “Steve’s just trying to butter you up. He’s the one you should be ignoring,” he tells DUM-E, grinning.

Steve turns his attention back to his sketchbook as Tony buries his face in his hands. “Should I even ask?”

Tony’s laugh is somewhat muffled behind his hands before he gestures vaguely at Steve. “No, Steven. Please don’t ask. Just distract me.”

“You know, it’s sweet you’re trying to make Hulk-proof pants for Bruce, but maybe some things are just, you know, not meant to be, even for a genius,” Steve suggests, even though he knows Tony’s more likely to take it as a challenge more than anything else. 

“It’s pants. PANTS!” Tony glares mulishly at Steve, crossing his arms over his chest before slumping back down on the couch. Steve really shouldn’t find Tony’s pout adorable. “I refuse to be defeated by pants,” Tony adds, with the same sort of disgusted emphasis on ‘pants’ that he usually reserves for when they’re dealing with magic, or with Justin Hammer. 

“You’ll figure it out, I have faith in you.” Steve reaches a hand out to give Tony a reassuring pat on the knee. It’s not until there’s a distinct flicker of surprise from Tony that Steve remembers, _oh_ _right, minimal physical contact._ Even such a small touch is highlighting his awareness of Tony’s feelings right now. Steve’s face heats from embarrassment, and he’s seriously considering fleeing the room when Tony interrupts his inner tirade with a wave at DUM-E.

“Hey, community college bot, can you get me my package please?” Tony’s gaze is focused on DUM-E, not Steve, but he’s speaking just a little faster than normal, and if Steve didn’t know better, he’d say that Tony is trying not to blush. _Damnit._ Leave it up to him to make things awkward. Steve really needs to remember to keep his hands to himself. 

“Oh!” Steve’s surprised when DUM-E thrusts a long, thin, cardboard-wrapped package into Steve’s hands. “Thanks, DUM-E,” he says, inspecting the parcel carefully. “Tony, what’s this?”

Tony shrugs. “Open it and find out.” He’s trying hard to feign nonchalance, but Steve detects a growing spark of excitement from him, which further stokes Steve’s curiosity. 

Steve carefully discards the cardboard from the package to reveal a long glass case lined with thirty-six brand new handcrafted colour pencils, the same ones Steve’s been mulling over for the past month. 

“How did you—” Steve starts to ask before Tony laughs. 

“You made a pros and cons list for it. And the last time we went by the store on our way to grab donuts for Thor, you stood at the window looking in for a full five minutes.” 

“It wasn’t five minutes,” Steve mumbles under his breath, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck. He concentrates, sending a bright flow of thanks in Tony’s direction of the bond. “This is great, Tony. Thanks.”

“Just think of it as your birthday present, no big deal.”

Steve grins, deciding to ignore the fact that yesterday Bruce had accidentally let him in on the secret birthday bash Tony’s been planning for him for two weeks.

“Whatever you say, Tony.”

* * *

Tony trudges into the kitchen the next morning, looking half-dead on his feet. Steve hides his grin behind a mug, which reads _I’m a centenarian, show some respect,_ and hands Tony his own Iron Man mug. “Late night?”

Tony takes a long, slow drink from his mug before answering, clearly savoring every drop of caffeine currently entering his system. “They’re pants, Steve. It really shouldn’t be this hard.” 

“That’s what he said,” Steve mutters to himself with a half a grin, only to come face to face with Tony’s knowing gaze. 

“Do my ears deceive me, or did Captain America just make a dirty joke?” he asks, as if he doesn’t know Steve has one of the filthiest mouths out of everyone on the team, Natasha included.

“Go to sleep, Tony,” Steve tells him with a fond shake of the head, feeling the same fondness echoing from Tony’s end of the bond. 

“Sleep is for the weak, Rogers,” Tony tells him with a bright grin, biting into a cream cheese bagel as he finishes his coffee. He’s messy and rumpled and barely awake, his movements manic from too much energy and not enough sleep, eyes bright with glee. It’s a look Steve’s become very familiar with over the past months. 

There’s no reason for Steve to react differently to it compared to every other day. Except Tony’s smiling, and Steve’s been wishing lately that Tony would smile more, and there’s something soft in his face as he looks at Steve in the morning light that warms Steve from the inside out- 

Steve looks at Tony again and realizes three things in rapid succession. 

1\. He really wants to kiss Tony right now. Like in a romance novel, let’s- sweep-everything-off-the-countertop, take me to bed kind of way.

2\. Somewhere along the way, he fell in love with Tony. He’s in love with Tony Stark.

3\. The same Tony Stark who is also Steve’s soulmate, who can sense Steve’s emotions, and Steve has no idea if Tony might ever feel the same way. 

_Fuck._

Steve is so fucking screwed. 

* * *

“Steve?” His coffee forgotten for the moment, Tony frowns at Steve, who for some reason is currently doing a very good impression of a fish gasping for air. 

“You alright?” Never mind the fact that the barrage of intense emotion radiating from Steve’s end of their connection is clearly communicating that Steve isn’t fine. Tony puts a hand out to the tabletop to steady himself from the onslaught of Steve’s feelings, slightly winded. He picks out a wave of panic and fear amid flashes of wonder and joy and something Tony wants to call desire before Steve clamps down on all of it, which leaves Tony even more worried.

“I, I have to go,” Steve says, looking like he’s been clubbed over the head by the Hulk multiple times. “I need coffee,” he says distractedly, before walking past the coffee machine and leaving his mug on the table. 

Okay. So that was definitely very weird. For all that they’ve tried to give each other as much privacy as possible with the bond, Tony’s gotten to know Steve’s feelings and the way his brain works, maybe even better than he knows his own mind, and that was extremely out of the ordinary. 

For a brief second while Steve’s brain was apparently in the process of recalibrating, Tony had indulged in the fantasy of Steve sweeping Tony off his feet in a grand romantic gesture. But only for a very short second. Maybe two. 

Tony pushes the enticing image firmly out of his mind, feeling more than a little relieved that Steve was too caught up in whatever was going on with him to notice anything different from Tony’s side of the bond. Anything more than what Tony has let slip through the bond over the past few weeks, anyway. 

Because somewhere in between falling asleep to the sound of Steve’s voice reading him a fairytale, too many movie nights to count, and that time Steve challenged Tony to an arm-wrestling fight after losing at Scrabble, Tony had fallen in love with Steve. 

So now he’s stuck with the challenge of trying to figure out whether his soulmate is in love with him while also keeping his own feelings under wraps until the right moment. 

No wonder Pepper said joining the Avengers would help him improve his people skills.

* * *

The music picks up to a faster beat, and Steve grins when he sees Nat spinning Pepper in a twirl at the other end of the dance floor, their smiling faces close together. Tony’s at his elbow, looking wonderfully, unfairly handsome in his suit, and if Steve takes another sip of the mead Thor had poured for him earlier, maybe he’ll have enough liquid courage to ask Tony to dance to a slower song. 

His daydream is suddenly interrupted by a sharp, lingering spike of panic from Tony.

Steve turns instantly to find Tony’s eyes fixed on someone behind Steve. His fingers are clenching around his shot glass, and it’s almost like someone’s slipped a mask over Tony’s face, something hard and plastic in his expression Steve has no idea how to read. 

“Tony? What’s wrong?” Steve’s facing Tony directly now, and the blank look in his eyes is just _wrong_ \- the sight of it causes Steve’s stomach to drop right to his feet. Tony should never look like that. Steve’s hand hovers over Tony’s shoulder like a phantom touch, and Steve wishes he could just wrap his arms around Tony and hold him close, take him away from whatever or whoever is making him so on edge - if only he knew for sure that Tony would let him. It’s been two weeks since Steve’s lightning-strike realization, and every day’s been an exercise in frustration for him. 

“A blast from the past,” Tony mutters under his breath, just quiet enough for Steve’s super-hearing. In the next moment, Steve’s almost pushed out of the way as an unfamiliar figure cuts his way into Tony’s space and smacks a loud kiss to Tony’s cheek. 

“Hello, Ty,” Tony says, eyes tight as he looks anywhere but at the man. His intense discomfort blares loudly over their bond as he tries discreetly to extract himself from the man’s firm embrace. Just for that, Steve wants to deck the guy, and he hasn’t even said a word yet. 

“Tony, darling, how long has it been?” Ty’s hands are still cupping Tony’s face, and that smile on his face morphs into a leer as he gives Tony an obvious once-over. “If I had known you’d be here, I would have dressed up for you.” 

He leans forward into Tony’s space once again, only to find himself yanked back by Steve’s firm hand.

“Steve Rogers,” Steve tells him, watching with not-insignificant satisfaction as the grin is wiped off the man’s face by his approach. “We haven’t been introduced.”

“This is Tiberius Stone, he’s an old... acquaintance,” Tony says in reply to Steve’s silent question, looking at them both with a careful expression. Steve knows Tony can sense just how protective he’s feeling at the moment, and maybe it’s too much, but right now he’s past the point of caring.

“Now, Tony, with all our history, is that all you have to say?” Stone says with a sly look in Tony’s direction. He seems to have recovered momentarily from Steve’s interruption, though he’s no longer crowding into Tony’s space.

“I don’t really think I have much to say to you, Ty.” Tony’s voice is cold and aloof, and all Steve wants right now is to take him far away from this Ty person forever and coax a smile onto his face, until warmth and happiness are back in his voice, where it belongs.

So he decides to do exactly that.

“You’ll have to excuse us,” Steve adds, before turning to Tony and leading him away from the bar. His hand lingers over the back of Tony’s jacket for a moment, even as he wishes he could be holding Tony’s hand in his.

The relief Tony’s feeling broadcasts itself over his face and through their bond the moment they’ve stepped out of Stone’s eye-line and earshot. Steve hates Stone a little just for that, for making Tony feel small and afraid, unsure of himself in a way Steve’s never seen before. 

“Thanks for the save, Steve,” Tony says, releasing a loud sigh into the silence between them. 

“Who was that, Tony, really?” Steve asks softly. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to but-”

“He was my first boyfriend. My first love, really,” Tony amends with a bitter laugh. There’s a brittleness to his words that has Steve’s hands clenching into fists at his side. “And didn’t that fuck me up for a good a while there. I met him when I first started at MIT, before I even met Rhodey. He has a very particular kind of charisma, and I fell hard.” Tony looks down at his shoes for a long moment. “Then Howard found out and threatened to disown me.”

“I was young and stupid, and very good at rebelling, so I threw myself even further into the relationship for the next few months,” Tony continues, not meeting Steve’s stricken gaze. “I smartened up after a while. After Rhodey knocked some sense into me. He never—” 

Tony falters just for a moment, and Steve’s heart drops to his knees. “He never forced me to do anything, Steve. But he could be very persuasive when he wanted something, and he didn’t want to give me up. So it ended badly, so to speak.” 

Tony moves forward towards the balcony, and Steve follows. 

“Actually, it was Obie who introduced me to him, as the son of one of his major business contacts. I never really understood it back then, I thought he was usually a terrific judge of character.” The weary, resigned look in Tony’s eyes when he turns to Steve leaves him cold. “It turns out I was the terrible judge of character, really. Older and even more monumentally stupid. I couldn’t see the truth until it was too late.”

“Tony, you’re the furthest thing from stupid, you’re the smartest man I’ve ever known,” Steve bursts out, unable to keep silent any longer. “I hate that all those terrible things happened to you, and if I could change that for you, I would in a heartbeat,” he continues in a softer voice, directing the force of his sincerity through the bond so Tony can see the truth of what he feels. 

“But I know you, who you are at your core. You can’t deny that,” Steve entreats, his voice shaking with emotion. “You are wonderful, frustrating, amazing, brilliant and so worthy of being cared about. Anyone would be lucky to love you.” _I’m so lucky just to have a chance at loving you._

Steve feels the combined force of Tony’s shock and awe at Steve’s words, and it takes everything in him not to say the rest of it out loud at that moment.

“Even if you’re a terrible cheater on game night,” Steve adds, and the helpless half-laugh that Tony directs at him at these words is the best sound Steve’s heard all night.

“You’re the sorest loser I’ve ever met, Rogers,” Tony retorts, a teasing spark returning to his eyes. After a pause, he turns to Steve with a calculating look. “Given how this night’s turned out, what do you think about sneaking out early and heading back to the Tower for another rematch?” 

“I’ll tell you what. Why don’t we grab Rhodey and Pepper and everyone else for a group rematch, and if you win, I’ll let you use me as target practice for Clint’s new water balloon arrows next week.” 

“Deal,” Tony agrees, his eyes sparkling in the moonlight, and Steve basks in the sight and the shared contentment flowing through their bond.  
  


* * *

Tony should have known a spell from the Enchantress wouldn’t be so easily brushed off. But after a week with no obvious side effects, they all figured it had been little more than a hoax. 

That is, until Tony had found himself suddenly doubling over in the middle of a debriefing, the pain making it hard to breathe or even see clearly until Nat had placed her hand on the back of his neck for support, and the pain had faded away to a much softer ache. 

“The gist of it is, you need prolonged physical contact, preferably from someone you have a close emotional connection with. Otherwise, the pain will only get worse, which could lead to other long-term problems we can’t guess at right now,” Bruce sums up for him, clearly looking worried as he glances down at the report in front of him. 

Tony purses his lips. “And did Strange say how long the spell’s going to last?” 

“According to Strange, the more physical contact you have, the faster the effects of the spell will fade, but it should be over and done with within the next 24 hours.” 

Bruce looks at Tony carefully before continuing. “Tony, you know any one of us would help you with this without a second thought, but given your bond with Steve, don’t you think…” 

Tony cuts him off with a dismissive wave. He knows the rest of the team is well aware of the nature of his soulbond with Steve, despite the lack of explicit discussion, but he doesn’t want to go into that right now. “Steve won’t be back from his Laos mission until this afternoon. It’s fine, I’ll figure out how to deal with it myself.”

Which is exactly how Tony ended up in this situation in the first place, trying resolutely to ignore an extremely irate Steve Rogers who is yelling at him through a glass door. 

“Tony, I know you’re in there and there’s no use in ignoring me. I know you’d much rather deal with this on your own than let any of us help you, but you’re in pain, and-” The break in Steve’s voice is clear even from this distance, and Tony’s resolve cracks just a little bit more. 

“Please, Tony, I can’t see you in pain and sit back and not do anything when I can help. Please don’t ask that of me.”

Tony bites down on his lip, grimacing as he tries to breathe through another onslaught of pain. He’s well aware that there’s no use being stubborn about this, especially given that holding out also means that Steve’s feeling Tony’s pain from his end of the bond. But the thought of Steve holding Tony in his arms, of soaking in Steve’s warmth and care, of finally being able to touch him, only to go back to keeping each other at a distance once the effects of the spell have worn off hurts more than any injury. 

When Tony finally relents and lets JARVIS accept Steve’s access code to the workshop, he finds himself wrapped up in Steve’s arms in an instant.

Tony sinks into the touch gratefully with a quiet sigh, basking in the relief of the excess pain leaving his system after holding it at bay for so long. 

He gives himself up to the feeling of how good it feels to be held by Steve, to hold Steve close. He only jolts back to reality when Steve takes him by the hand to tug Tony down onto the couch next to him, still keeping his other hand curved around the nape of Tony’s neck.

It’s so good, better than anything Tony can think of in recent memory, and when Steve pulls him a little further down, Tony goes without a sound, resting his face in the warm crook of Steve’s neck with a happy sigh. He feels rather than sees Steve reach up to run a hand through Tony’s hair, and leans insistently into the touch, until Steve gives a quiet chuckle that Tony feels like a soft vibration, with Steve resting his chin carefully on Tony’s head.

“I don’t get it,” Steve says quietly after a long stretch of silence, still carding his hand gently through Tony’s hair. Tony resists the very real urge to purr at the touch. “This is clearly helping you, and it feels good for you and for me. Why did you think you had to hide?” 

His soft words are undercut by a hurt that has Tony’s heart clenching in his chest. “Did you really think I wouldn’t want to do this for you?”

Tony shakes his head before snuggling as close to Steve as he can without them both tumbling off the sofa. He turns his head a little so as to avoid the enticing temptation of resting his lips on Steve’s neck, almost like a kiss. Steve has an unfairly kissable neck. Tony loves that about him. 

He had resisted before, but now that he has Steve with him, Tony doesn’t want to let go until he absolutely has to.

“I knew you wouldn’t hesitate. Of course you wouldn’t—” 

“Do you know how it felt for me to see you in pain, knowing that you wouldn’t let me help you?” The stark honesty in Steve’s voice is almost too much for Tony to bear, and he buries his face even further into Steve’s neck, overcome. There’s a pause before Steve continues as if he’s struggling at holding something back, a feeling through their bond Tony can’t quite put into words. 

“I would do anything for you, Tony, I love you, don’t you know that by now?” Steve says softly, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

Tony’s brain instantly grinds to a halt. 

His heart feels weak in his chest, and Tony blinks, dizzy with the wonder of it. 

“What did you just say?” he asks, more than a little afraid that he just hallucinated that part of the conversation, even though Bruce hadn't listed that as a possible side-effect of the spell.

“I said, don’t you know I would do anything for you, because I—” Steve’s face turns bright red as he registers his exact words. “ _Oh.”_

“Do you mean it?” Tony asks, pouring his whole heart into that one question. _Say it again,_ he thinks desperately.

_If you mean it, say it again._

“Of course I did,” Steve replies, his voice barely above a whisper, and Tony can feel it now, he can hear the blooming wonder and hope in Steve’s words that he thought had belonged to him alone. The truth of it feels like the first time he took flight to the skies as Iron Man, like all the world’s possibilities are laid out before him.

Because Steve _loves him back._

“When you went up in the wormhole, and I lost you for those few moments, I felt so lost, it was unbearable. It was like the ice.” Steve’s confession has Tony’s breath catching in his throat. “It’s an honour to be your soulmate, Tony Stark, to know you and know your heart. But it’s not why I love you.” 

“I think I fell in love with you the moment I realized you’re even less of a morning person than I am,” Tony tells him. It takes him a moment to gather the courage to finally meet Steve’s eyes. 

The joy and exhilaration on Steve’s face are easily read, and Tony’s heart races at the knowledge that he’s the one who put it there, that he makes Steve happy. Then all of a sudden, they’re both laughing, clutching at each other’s hands until Tony buries his mirth in the curve of Steve’s shoulder, Steve wrapping his arms tighter around Tony’s waist. 

“I fell in love with you when I first saw you smile,” Steve leans in closer to frame Tony’s face in his hands before his lips meet Tony’s in a soft, sweet kiss. Tony finds that the one thing even better than cuddling Steve is kissing him.

“Do that again,” Tony says breathlessly when they finally part for air. Steve grins back at him, yielding easily to the request. 

Tony figures they definitely owe the Enchantress a thank you note. Maybe even Loki too. 

**Author's Note:**

> \- George MacDonald was a 19th-century Scottish author and poet, I love his fairytales. The excerpt Steve reads in the fic is from his story ‘The Light Princess’. You can read for free here: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/697 It’s fantastic, check it out if you can.
> 
> \- The Brooklyn Botanic Garden was founded in 1910, so it’s indeed older than Steve. You can check out their website here: https://www.bbg.org/  
> Thank you to Addy for suggesting that Steve could take Tony there on their visit!
> 
> \- There’s a pretty obvious reference to the 1954 version of the movie Sabrina, bonus points to whoever catches it. 
> 
> Last but not least, thank you to the Cap-IM mods for organizing this event and being very understanding 💜
> 
> Comments and kudos are the best, I'd love to hear your thoughts!


End file.
